Dorothy Lily Wavrin Eulogy

“Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Exodus 20:12

Dot passed away shortly after living to see her 103rd year on this earth. Have you ever wondered to yourself how someone can have such a long life? The Bible is clear it is not for all people to have many days on earth. Arguably, some are just so irresistible to the Lord, He takes them home to be with Him. As He is entitled to do. Yet, for those of us that remain here and are wondering the secrets of long life, let’s regard this verse and allow it to work itself into our own hearts. The Lord doesn’t lie and His Holy Word is perfect. Let’s heed the Lord’s advice and yield to the Lord in this area. For one day every one of us will stand before Him and give an account for our own lives and choices.

Today, we extend our most heartfelt gratitude to all of you who are here, showing love to us and honor to our beloved Mother and Grandmother. Romans 3:17 tells us to, “render honor to whom honor is due”. This marvelous woman truly deserves to be honored.

In 1917, John F. Kennedy and Ella Fitzgerald were born, to name a few. Babe Ruth was in his third year with the Boston Red Sox. Suffragettes were just a few years away from their nation altering moment where all women received the congressional right to vote. Albert Einstein published his theory, E=MC2. Puerto Ricans were granted American citizenship with the Jones Law. President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany, officially entering the United States into The Great War. Our Mother, Dot or “Doris”, as her father called her, was born in the time of the Spanish Flu Pandemic and passed away during the Corona Virus Pandemic. She was a living museum. Here is a capsule of her historical life which was flavored with love and a good sense of humor.

Dorothy Lily Wavrin was born to Jay Wavrin and Lucille Silva on April 8th, 1917 in Wagon Mound, New Mexico. Her father grew up in Kentucky on a tobacco farm and her mother was an orphan, raised by nuns in a convent. Dorothy was the eldest of four siblings, Bill, Frances and Bob. Her father worked as a cook, lumberjack and tailor among many other jobs. She often talked about how her father could do most anything and called him a “Jack of all trades”. While he was working as a lumberjack, Dorothy remembered playing among the great big logs.

Dorothy had shared a memory of riding horseback with her mother into town to get supplies since they didn’t have an automobile at the time. Eventually, they bought a Model-T and her mother was terrified to drive it. One day, her brothers played a mischievous prank on their mother when she took Dorothy with her and drove the Model-T into town to get supplies. As her mother turned the first corner, the steering wheel popped right off in her hands and they landed in a ditch. Those rascals had unscrewed the steering wheel. Thankfully, Model-T’s didn’t go too fast back then.

At some point they moved further north and settled in beautiful Colorado. They bought a house in Denver near 8th and Bryant which is now an industrial area. Her most vivid memory of that house was of their rooster that chased her around the yard when she tried to collect the eggs. Living so close to the mountains, they began a family tradition that when school let out for the summer, her parents would pack up the Model-T and set out for the mountains in Stillwater, near Grand Lake. Her father, Jay set up a tarp over the Model-T to make it look like a covered wagon for them to sleep under. Those days begot a love of fishing in Dot and a lifelong connection to the famous fishing hole which she called, “The First Falls”. They befriended Elsie Trout, the land owner of the camping area, and her father worked for Elsie in exchange for allowing them to camp there until school started again.

Dot told a story that, one time her brother Bill was teasing her at the table so bad, she became furious at him because he wouldn’t stop and so she threw her fork at him. The fork landed in his forehead and stuck there for a few moments before falling off. That feistiness earned her respect with her siblings, so that whenever they would get into fights at school, they would call her to come and help. Dorothy would go on to outlive all her siblings and their spouses.

Dot didn’t finish the 11th grade, earning her GED instead. At the age of 16, Dot got a job at a small diner as a waitress and walked two and a half miles to get there. Minnie Welsh, the owner of the diner and her boss, would one day become her first mother-in-law. It was during the Depression and she told of one time being so hungry, she snuck a ten-cent sweet roll. She said that they were so expensive, no one bought them, anyhow. However, Minnie caught her and made her skip her lunch to pay for it. Occasionally, Minnie’s sons would come in for a meal and Dot grabbed their attention. Dot and some of her friends and a few guys including Minnie’s son, Earl would take off to go driving around Idaho Springs and other mountain towns. She shuttered as she told how one of the boys would drive close to the edge of the cliff to get the girls to scream. Although Dot dated Minnie’s younger son, Earl first, she later married Minnie’s middle son, Marvin, in 1934 when she was 17. They had three children together, Marlene Roberta, Marvin Howard and Billie Lee Lucille. These were the years during World War II and Dot continued to work at the diner during this time and also got a job harvesting farm vegetables for a trucking business.

Minnie bought them a house on Delaware Street in Denver. The house which was actually a former chicken coop only had one bedroom and a coal stove. One funny memory she told us was while mopping the floor one day, her toddler son, Marvin wouldn’t quit bugging her, so she picked him up and plopped him in the mop bucket of water. He immediately stopped carrying on and became mesmerized by the warm, sudsy water. Their neighbors were Lena and Charles DeWitt, who was a geologist. Several years later, Dot’s husband Marvin was diagnosed with mental illness and was admitted to a hospital. After a very heartbreaking and difficult decision, the marriage ended. She was left with three young children to care for and took over paying the mortgage at $16 a month while her parents helped with the children.

One day, while she was out white washing her house, much to her chagrin, her neighbor's much younger son, Vincent, sat on the porch playing his accordion, watching her. Dot always thought he was crazy to have attention for a woman with three kids. He was taken with her and swooned her with his beautiful opera voice singing “Ave Maria”. They married the day after Valentine’s Day in 1947. They had three children, Vincent Matthew Jr., Frances Leila and Stephen Anthony. With an expanding family, they needed to add on to Dot’s chicken coop house. Vincent remodeled it himself even digging out a basement.

Over the years, Dot worked at many different places. She taught gym class at the Catholic school, and worked at Russell Stover Candy as well as Kmart. Dot also worked for Jonas Brothers Furs where she painted glass eyes for taxidermists. Vincent had established himself at Stearns & Rogers where he worked as a welder for many years. His job was conveniently located across the street from their house. Although she worked outside the home, she always made it possible to make hot lunches for her husband, which amazed most of his coworkers, who had cold lunches. One favorite memory for the kids was when Stearns & Rogers sent Vincent to Canada for a big project. He later sent for the family to join him there for the summer.

Dorothy was a fun mother and her house was the favorite of all the neighborhood kids. One reason was because they were the only house on the block with a TV. One night, some neighborhood kids were watching “The Three Stooges”. That episode had a goofy monster chasing Larry, Curly and Moe around. So, Dorothy, with her mischievous humor (much like her brothers) went and made a disguise with a towel over her head, heavy lipstick and makeup darkening her eyes. She quietly came up behind them, tapped one of them. The little boy screamed and another one ran into her room and hid under the bed. She followed him and when she looked under the bed at him, he peed all over the floor.

Dorothy was blessed with several grandchildren. Billie had four children, Jamie, Devin, Kenae and Zion. Franci had two daughters, Nora and Lily and Steve had three children, Susie, Nichole and Stevie. She excelled at her new role. Everyone loved to be at her house because there was always good food and great stories. She made everything fun, including when she taught us to sit in a sleeping bag and slide down the stairs. Her candy dishes and cookie jars were always full. Her back porch had the best tree to climb and lots of Easter egg hiding places. She always had a vegetable garden and rose bushes. An apricot tree she planted from seed made the best homemade jam.

During this time, she worked cleaning houses for some “well-to-do ladies” and became close friends with a few of them. Her favorite was a professor who even left Dot an inheritance in her will. People loved Dot everywhere she went. She and her husband, Vincent loved to bowl, go for drives, and play bingo. Camping and fishing in Stillwater were still favorite activities throughout their years together. They also took lots of family and friends on their boat to Chatfield Reservoir. They often frequented the Dairy Queen off Broadway with their children and grandchildren. One fun thing happened when her husband took her to a shooting range. After the range officer saw her shooting a 30.06 caliber so well, he told Vincent he needed to put her in a shooting competition. It turns out, the reason she was so good was because her dad was a woodsman and taught her how to shoot. Another thing Dot was most known for was her great cooking and always trying to feed everyone. If you came over to visit, you were immediately ushered to the table and before you knew it, you had something delicious to eat in front of you. One of her most requested foods was her cinnamon rolls. Many of her children and grandchildren are also gifted in the kitchen.

Dorothy’s family grew yet again when she became a Great Grandma. Jamie had two children, Joshua and Billena. Devin had three children, Desiree, Breanna and Jeremy. Kenae had a son Timothy and a daughter Kayla. Nora had Izabelle and Rowdy. Lily had Rowan and Lachlyn. Susie had Savannah, William, Jack and Levi. Nichole had Eliel, Adriel, Joel and Osiel and Stevie had a son, Devon. Later on, Dot became a Great-Great Grandma first with Billena having Carter and then Arloe. Desiree had Elijah and Eve and Kayla had Anna.

By this time Dot was retired but she always remained very active. Dorothy loved to travel and she and her husband went on many trips including Lake Powell as well as to Mexico where they fished and saw the Aztec ruins. Since their daughter, Franci’s husband was in the Navy, they went to see her and her family while he was stationed in Hawaii and later in California. Despite the loss of her husband Vincent to cancer in 1995, her outlook on life remained strong and positive.

Dorothy continued to travel and her first trip after her husband passed away, was a road trip to New Mexico with her son Steve and his three children. Of all her travels, one of her fondest memories was traveling to France with her sister-in-law, Nadine. Dot also made several trips to visit her daughter Billie, who lived not far from her favorite place, Stillwater, in the mountains. They would always find time to hike up to her “First Falls” fishing hole to enjoy some fishing. Another of their other favorite past times were collecting quarters for their many trips to Blackhawk. She and her daughter Marlene once did a bus tour of the whole United States and the two of them also attended many activities at Malley’s Senior Rec Center. One of the most difficult times of her life was watching Marlene suffer from Dementia and passing away in 2014. Just two short years later, in 2016, her youngest son, Steve took her to California to visit her eldest son, Marvin, before he also passed away. Her son Vincey lived with her for many years and whenever he went hunting, Billie would come and kidnap her to escape to her mountain home for days at a time. She ended her traveling days at 100 years old on a trip to Montana with her son Steve to see her “birthday twin” granddaughter, Lily and to meet her great-grandchildren.

As Dot got older, she lost most of her sight to macular degeneration and yet still managed to cook and clean her house independently. She passed her days listening to audiobooks specially made for the blind and she loved to listen to music. Her son Vincey often took her out to run errands or get a meal, usually to Saigon Palace, Kokoro or Lucille’s. Dot learned to use her peripheral vision that the macular degeneration hadn’t taken away and would sit sideways to watch TV. She never let any difficulties defeat her, yet adapted to them and kept moving through life. She was a woman of faith, always talking to God and giving encouragement in His name to friends and family. Dorothy’s life was an amazing one and a beautiful example of perseverance and steady faith. If you met Dot, you can be sure she has prayed for you at some point. She prayed diligently for all of her grandkids that they would come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior and give their lives to Him. If you had some worry, she’d often say something like, “Don’t worry about it, just talk to Jesus about it. He’ll listen. He loves you.” The one thing that most defined Dot during these twilight years of her life was that the Lord gave her a ministry to pray for others. The Lord does not decommission us from doing kingdom work once our bodies deteriorate. She joyfully took on lifting up others in prayer. She prayed faithfully for President Trump and also asked others to pray for him. One of her burdens was to pray for local businesses. When she was unable to leave the house alone, due to her blindness, she looked forward to when one of her family members would take her out to one of her favorite places. She would often ask, “Are they busy?”. When told how many customers were there, you could catch her smiling to herself. Then she would look upward to heaven and mouth the words, “thank you”. So now it’s our turn to ask for what we cannot see. ( ^ ) “Lord, is she busy?” (**Thank you**)
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that long for his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:7-8


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